Surge protection protects electronic devices from voltage spikes due, for example, to lightning. These devices block or short-to-ground, voltage above a certain threshold. In the coaxial cable industry, gas discharge tubes (GDT) provide surge protection and employ sealed glass-enclosed devices containing a special gas mixture trapped between two electrodes. The gas mixture conducts electric current upon ionization by a high voltage spike. Quarter wave devices also provide surge protection and feature a tuned quarter-wavelength short-circuit stub that allows the surge protector to pass a bandwidth of frequencies, but presents a short to other frequencies. Existing surge protection technologies each have their own drawbacks including, but not limited to, the high cost of manufacture, complexity, the burden to reset or replace the surge protectors, surge protection delay, low reliability, and the like.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome, or otherwise lessen the effects of, the disadvantages and shortcomings described above.